Federal Science and Engineering Obligations to Universities and Colleges Drop by 11% in FY 2011

In FY 2011, federal agencies obligated $31.4 billion to 1,134 academic institutions for science and engineering activities. The 11.0% decrease in current dollars from FY 2010 federal obligations ($35.3 billion to 1,219 academic institutions) reflects the absence of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) stimulus funds in FY 2011. The last ARRA funds were obligated in FY 2010 and accounted for $5.1 billion (14.5%) of FY 2010 science and engineering (S&E) obligations to academic institutions. If ARRA obligations are excluded from FY 2010 totals, FY 2011 S&E obligations to academic institutions increased $1.2 billion (4.1%) (table 1). These statistics are from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions.

After adjustment for inflation, federal S&E obligations to academic institutions declined by $0.4 billion (1.4%) from FY 2009 to FY 2010, and by $4.0 billion (12.8%) between FYs 2010 and 2011. Excluding the funding provided by ARRA, federal support for S&E to academic institutions increased by $0.6 billion (2.1%) from FY 2010 to FY 2011 (table 1). For the remainder of this InfoBrief, changes in funding across years are in inflation-adjusted dollars unless noted.

Categories of Academic S&E Support

Federal academic S&E obligations include six categories: research and development (87%–90% of total federal academic S&E obligations annually over the past 5 years); R&D plant; facilities and equipment for instruction in S&E; fellowships, traineeships, and training grants; general support for S&E; and other S&E activities (table 1).

Federal academic R&D obligations decreased by $2.9 billion (10.6%) between FYs 2010 and 2011 because all remaining ARRA funds had been obligated by the end of FY 2010. Excluding ARRA funding, federal academic R&D obligations showed a 1.3% increase over FY 2010. Four of the five remaining categories showed decreased funding in FY 2011; R&D plant experienced the second-largest decrease in dollar amounts ($1.2 billion, or 81.0%). This decrease was primarily due to the absence of ARRA funds, which had provided 71.9% of R&D plant obligations in FY 2010 (table 1).

The only S&E category with a rise in funding level was other S&E activities, which increased by $0.3 billion (23.7%) in FY 2011, despite having ARRA funding in FY 2010 (table 1). This increase was primarily driven by increased funding from the Department of Defense (DOD).

Agency Sources for Academic S&E Support

Collectively, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NSF, and DOD provided 86.4% of all federally funded academic S&E obligations in FY 2011. Of these agencies, HHS accounted for 57.7% of all federally funded obligations; NSF, 16.3%; and DOD, 12.5%. The Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Energy, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provided most of the remaining academic S&E total (10.2%). Two of the six agencies (DOD and USDA) showed increased federal academic S&E obligations in FY 2011. DOD and USDA reported no academic S&E ARRA obligations in either FY 2010 or FY 2011 (table 2).

a Includes data for the Departments of Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor, and Transportation; the Agency for International Development; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Appalachian Regional Commission; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the Office of Justice Programs (part of the Department of Justice); and the Social Security Administration.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions.

University Shares of Academic S&E Support

The Johns Hopkins University (including its Applied Physics Laboratory) continued to be the leading academic recipient of federal S&E obligations: $1.7 billion in FY 2011. Together, HHS and DOD provided Johns Hopkins with 90.8% of its federal S&E funds. The leading 20 universities, ranked in terms of federal academic S&E obligations, accounted for 36.2% of the FY 2011 federal total. Of these universities, 19 were also ranked among the top 20 recipients in FY 2010. In FY 2011, Cornell University moved from 21st to 20th, exchanging places with Vanderbilt University, Harvard University’s rank fell from 8th to 12th, and the University of Minnesota’s (all campuses) rank rose from 17th to 7th (table 3).

TABLE 3. Federal academic science and engineering obligations to the 20 universities receiving the largest amounts, by agency: FY 2011
(Millions of current U.S. dollars)

aIncludes data for the Departments of Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, and Transportation; the Agency for International Development; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the Office of Justice Programs (part of the Department of Justice); and the Social Security Administration.b Includes funding for the Applied Physics Laboratory.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions, FY 2011.

Federal S&E Support to Nonprofit Institutions

NSF collects statistics on federal obligations to independent nonprofit institutions for two of the six S&E categories: R&D and R&D plant. During FY 2011, federal agencies obligated $7.3 billion to 1,088 nonprofit institutions, a decrease of 17.8% from the $8.8 billion reported in FY 2010 (current dollars). HHS accounted for $0.8 billion (51.0%) of the decrease. ARRA funds accounted for $5.9 billion, or 66.8%, of the FY 2010 total. The MITRE Corporation received the most federal R&D and R&D plant funds ($458 million) among nonprofits in FY 2011, with DOD providing 99.9% of this funding (table 4)

TABLE 4. Federal R&D and R&D plant obligations to the 10 independent nonprofit institutions receiving the largest amounts, by agency: FY 2011 (Thousands of current U.S. dollars)

aIncludes data for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor, and Transportation; the Agency for International Development; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the Office of Justice Programs (part of the Department of Justice); and the Social Security Administration.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions, FY 2011.

In FY 2011, the 10 leading nonprofit institutions in terms of federal obligations received 34.8% of the total funding to all nonprofits. Six of these recipients were hospitals or medical research institutes. Eight of these leading 10 nonprofits also ranked among the top 10 in FY 2010. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (ranked 11th in FY 2010 and 10th in FY 2011) and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (ranked 13th in FY 2010 and 8th in FY 2011) moved into the top 10, and Research Triangle International (ranked 5th in FY 2010 and 15th in FY 2011) and the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (ranked 6th in FY 2010 and 42nd in FY 2011) fell out of the top 10 (table 4).

Data Sources, Definitions, and Availability

Gross domestic product implicit price deflators were used to convert current to constant FY 2005 dollars in this InfoBrief. The data on federal S&E obligations to academic and nonprofit institutions presented here were obtained from 19 agencies that responded to both the FY 2010 and FY 2011 Surveys of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. The survey collects federal S&E support data by funding agency, institution, type of activity, type of institution, and geographic location.

The six funding categories of federal S&E support are defined as follows:

R&D includes all direct, indirect, incidental, or related costs resulting from or necessary to perform R&D by private individuals and organizations under grant, contract, or cooperative agreement.

R&D plant includes all projects whose principal purpose is to provide support for construction; acquisition; renovation; modification; repair; or rental of facilities, land, works, or fixed equipment for use in scientific or engineering R&D.

Facilities and equipment for S&E instruction includes all programs whose principal purpose is to provide support for construction; acquisition; renovation; modification; repair; or rental of facilities, land, works, or equipment for use in S&E instruction.

Fellowships, traineeships, and training grants includes all fellowship, traineeship, and training grant programs that are directed primarily toward the development and maintenance of the scientific workforce.

General support for S&E includes funds used for scientific projects and support for activities within a specified discipline; their explicit purpose is not specified.

Other S&E activities includes all academic S&E obligations that cannot be assigned elsewhere and activities in support of technical conferences, teacher institutes, and programs aimed at increasing precollege and undergraduate students’ scientific knowledge.

The full set of detailed statistical tables from the FY 2010 and FY 2011 Surveys of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions will be available online at http://nsf.gov/statistics/fedsupport/. Individual tables may be available in advance of the full report. For more information, please contact the author.